At the Waibop Federation's AGM in Tauranga (June 29) their financial statements listed an unsecured interest-free loan of $27,000 to Waibop United (made in December) as one of their assets.
The federation made an overall surplus of $36,000 in its annual financial statements, and has financial reserves in the vicinity of 6 months of operating costs, so I'd argue it was ultimately a good outcome to "invest" in the national league in this manner.
Yes, you could argue that given for the nine seasons when Waikato FC was run by a handful of volunteers it somehow always managed to cover entry fees from grant funding, sponsorship or fundraising, this was retrograde step.
However I personally favour socialising the cost of national league, especially given it is now touted as an integral part of football "pathways" within the federation structure, and we simply had to move on from five overworked amateurs sweating the big stuff late at night with pressing deadlines.
So even if this $27,000 loan follows the patterns of an earlier advance of $65,000 made to assist Waibop United after the federation takeover, and gets converted to a "grant", you could alternately think of it as just a levy under another name.
Divided among the code's 12,971 registered players in the federation in 2014, that equates to a "levy" of $2.08 cents each.
Or, presented another way, it was not much more than the $23,000 the federation sucked out of from clubs in terms of misconduct fines for the 2014 season (NB, the increased misconduct charges magicked into law without consultation a few weeks into the 2015 winter season is a real issue for Waikato clubs, and Andy Martin, who was at the meeting, was made aware of this).
The loan was acknowledged but drew no real discussion.
In her annual report retiring chair Patsi Davies noted their was ongoing concern about the viability of the national league and anticipated "this will be reflected in the outcome of its review of this competition".
However Patsi blotted her report a little by twice referring to Waibop United as Waikato United (in writing).
The federation made an overall surplus of $36,000 in its annual financial statements, and has financial reserves in the vicinity of 6 months of operating costs, so I'd argue it was ultimately a good outcome to "invest" in the national league in this manner.
Yes, you could argue that given for the nine seasons when Waikato FC was run by a handful of volunteers it somehow always managed to cover entry fees from grant funding, sponsorship or fundraising, this was retrograde step.
However I personally favour socialising the cost of national league, especially given it is now touted as an integral part of football "pathways" within the federation structure, and we simply had to move on from five overworked amateurs sweating the big stuff late at night with pressing deadlines.
So even if this $27,000 loan follows the patterns of an earlier advance of $65,000 made to assist Waibop United after the federation takeover, and gets converted to a "grant", you could alternately think of it as just a levy under another name.
Divided among the code's 12,971 registered players in the federation in 2014, that equates to a "levy" of $2.08 cents each.
Or, presented another way, it was not much more than the $23,000 the federation sucked out of from clubs in terms of misconduct fines for the 2014 season (NB, the increased misconduct charges magicked into law without consultation a few weeks into the 2015 winter season is a real issue for Waikato clubs, and Andy Martin, who was at the meeting, was made aware of this).
The loan was acknowledged but drew no real discussion.
In her annual report retiring chair Patsi Davies noted their was ongoing concern about the viability of the national league and anticipated "this will be reflected in the outcome of its review of this competition".
However Patsi blotted her report a little by twice referring to Waibop United as Waikato United (in writing).